Setting Speaker Pelosi's Record Straight: 14 Days and Counting: No Annual Spending Bills Sent to the President, No House Conferees Even Named
14 Days And Counting: No Annual Spending Bills Sent To The President, No House Conferees Even Named

Congress Has Not Sent A Single Annual Spending Bill To The President For The
Fiscal Year That Began October 1; Speaker Pelosi Has Not Even Appointed Conferees
To Reconcile Differences Between House And Senate Bills

"Speaker Pelosi's false claim that the House is 'on schedule' to send
the 12 annual spending bills to the President is belied by the fact that two
weeks into the new fiscal year, she has not even appointed a single conferee
to begin reconciling differences between the bills the House and Senate have
both passed. Congress should get to work on passing these annual bills one at
a time and in a fiscally responsible way that will not lead to higher taxes
on hard-working Americans."

- White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto, 10/14/07

Speaker Pelosi's Fiction: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) falsely
says the House is "on schedule" to get the 12 annual spending bills
needed to fund the Federal government to the President's desk.

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Last year you criticized the Republican Congress as a
do-nothing Congress, and one of the points you cited was they hadn't passed
any of their appropriations bills by the fall. Democrats haven't passed any
either."

PELOSI: "Oh, well we've  in the House we've passed every one of
our bills."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "None are law yet, though."

PELOSI: "Well, they will be. And we're on schedule." (ABC's "This
Week," 10/14/07)

The Reality: The fiscal year began 14 days ago, but only five annual
spending bills have passed both houses, and Speaker Pelosi has not yet appointed
any conferees to reconcile differences in these bills and get them to the President's
desk.

By The Numbers:

14 Fiscal Year 2008 began 14 days ago on October 1.

Only 5 annual spending bills have been passed by both houses
of Congress.

Congress has sent 0 annual spending bills to the President
for his signature.

It has been 80 days since the homeland security appropriations
bill passed the House and the Senate.

Speaker Pelosi has appointed 0 conferees to reconcile House
and Senate budget bills.

Speaker Pelosi also failed to reach her goal of passing the 12 annual
spending bills before the July 4 recess. "The House [will] have
all 12 annual spending bills passed by the July fourth recess, in order to give
the Senate enough time to take them on." ("Forget
About the Ongoing, Hostile Partisanship Over the $125 Billion Supplemental Iraq
War Spending Bill," Roll Call, 5/1/07)

CONGRESS HAS NOT YET PASSED A SINGLE ANNUAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL

House Delays For Months In Appointing Conferees To Reconcile Differences In
Senate And House Bills